BENGALURU: India’s foreign exchange reserves rose for the fifth straight week, reaching an over 20-month high of $615.97 billion as of Dec. 15, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed on Friday.

The reserves rose by $9.1 billion in the reporting week, after climbing by a total of $16.5 billion in the prior four weeks.

Indian debt and equity markets have seen net inflows of $9.2 billion so far in December, after receiving $2.9 billion in November.

Central bank intervention in forex markets along with valuation changes impact reserves.

Changes in foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in its reserves.

Foreign exchange reserves also include India’s Reserve Tranche position in the International Monetary Fund.

India’s forex reserves rise for third week, hit over four-month high

For the week the forex reserves data pertains, the rupee traded in between 82.9400 and 83.4050 against the dollar, and logged its biggest weekly gain since Aug. 25.

The currency settled at 83.14 on Friday, and posted its biggest weekly loss in over two months.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million U.S. dollars)----------------------------------------------------                              Dec 15       Dec 08                               2023         2023----------------------------------------------------Foreign currency assets      545,048      536,699Gold                          47,577       47,130SDRs                          18,323       18,188Reserve Tranche Position       5,023        4,842----------------------------------------------------Total                        615,971      606,859----------------------------------------------------